Porsche has changed the look of its supercars many times but one like this doesn’t even look like a car from the German brand: the secret Porsche that the Stuttgart brand doesn’t want you to know.
It happens very rarely that a manufacturer of “normal” cars launches itself into construction and design of a supercar. But it happens even more rarely that on the contrary a brand known for producing sports cars throws everything away to build a car for everyday life: it’s not just a question of “reputation” and image, think how much they would find customers were shocked when faced with a Ferrari city car version or a McLaren sedan.
Not quite the car you’d expect from Porsche… (Canva) – Flop Gear.it
Perhaps this is precisely why in the long and illustrious history of Porsche, the Stuttgart company specializing in building supercars like the Carrera or the 918 Spyder, there is almost never a model that the brand seems to want to forget. What we’re talking about today is the story of the Porsche C88, a unique event that fortunately the German company never wanted to repeat.
Well before they came out the Cayenne and the Panamerathe Stuttgart company designed a five-door car for the Chinese market: what came out of the designers’ heads, however, does not exactly reflect the ideals of power and style that have always accompanied the Porsche brand, you are about to see why and especially to discover the history of the forgotten Porsche that few know!
The most forgettable Porsche
It was 1994 when the Chinese government invited some manufacturers to propose models for the local market. Among these was Porsche, it’s a pity that the tender referred to a car for everyday driving with – among the specifications – seats in which even a child could sit without safety risks. The German brand responded and in four months, I assembled the car that you can see below, the Porsche C88which looks more like an Eastern European sedan from the last century.
The Porsche C88 is something we never thought we’d see! (YouTube) – Flop Gear.it
Porsche put so much energy into the project to the point that the CEO of the brand at the time Wendelin Wiedeking he memorized a speech in Chinese to present the car, which actually happened at the Beijing Motor Show. The project was even taken to India for testing but in the end, neither market wanted to deal with the car we know very little about.
Curiously, Porsche did not place its emblem on the prototype. We can imagine why: the car is today exhibited at the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart but be careful because its legacy has not remained without a sequel: the German brand exploited the experience to provide consultancy on the design of cars like the Lada Samara in the years to come. But the C88, so bizarre and far from the brand’s stylistic canons, remains an incredible unique case today.
2024-02-12 22:30:16
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